ABSTRACT
The decline of traditional hierarchies is not simply a consequence of Dalit assertion for rights and autonomy. Technological changes in rural areas have also made redundant the old jajmani system and the accompanying economic relations that tied the untouchable communities to their landowning patrons. With the growing use of tractors, trolleys and harvesters, the services of many caste communities were no longer required. One of the consequences of these changing realities of rural India is that either by choice or by compulsion, Dalits are moving away from the traditional agrarian economy.
